


The Great Fire Lord

by ryfkah



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Criticism, F/M, Gen, M/M, Screenplay/Script Format, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 02:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4329780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryfkah/pseuds/ryfkah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A classic work of Fire Nation Empire-era propagandist theater, rediscovered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pu-on Tim's The Great Fire Lord, Excerpted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selden/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least three actors per dragon. No skimping!

_THE GREAT FIRE LORD_

CASTING NOTES

FIRELORD SOZIN: Heroic leading man type. Strong, well-muscled, must look good shirtless.

AVATAR ROKU: Attractively sinister type. Small goatee, pencil moustache, fantastic hair. 

TA MIN: Ingenue. Busty. Must be able to cry natural tears on command. 

GYATSU: Standard airbender monk breeches role. 

DRAGONS: At least three actors per dragon. No skimping! 

 

ACT 3

[The FIRELORD's palace. SOZIN on throne, in nightrobe. Enter ROKU, stage left.]

ROKU: I knew I'd find you here.

SOZIN: Roku, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with … Ta Min?

ROKU: I'm not here as your rival, Sozin. I'm not even here as your friend. I'm here … 

[ROKU pulls out FIREBENDING and WATERBENDING ribbons; stagehands 1 & 2 open trapdoors to throw EARTHBENDING rocks; stagehand 3 fans from stage left]

ROKU: … as the Avatar!

[SOZIN rises]

SOZIN: It's as the Avatar you should join me, Roku! That we're both here, now – this is destiny calling, for the Fire Nation's glory! Can't you hear it? 

ROKU: What is it you look for in other lands that cannot be found here? Narrow your vision, Sozin. Forget your wild dreams of a better world – see what's right in front of you! Not only the heat of the flame, but the freedom of air, the power of earth, the wetness of water – 

[ROKU advances towards SOZIN, then abruptly prostrates himself. All BENDING effects pause, except AIRBENDING (hair effects)]

ROKU: – the Avatar himself is at your command! 

SOZIN: Alas, Roku! The Fire Sages did wrong to take you away from the Fire Nation. You can't hear your country calling anymore! 

ROKU: I can hear my country telling me to stay here, and enjoy its blessings for myself. 

SOZIN: Your counsel is wrong and shameful, but a part of me wishes I could listen to it. Now more than ever, I see that the voice of destiny is calling me to a painful journey and a lonely path. How easy it would be to ignore the voice of destiny, and the journey of destiny, and the path of destiny – 

[SOZIN walks down the steps of the throne towards ROKU]

SOZIN: – and lead a simple, shameful, selfish life with the person I love – 

ROKU: You mean Ta Min, the woman we both love. 

SOZIN: Yes, of course I mean Ta Min, the woman we both love. 

[SOZIN steps backwards.]

SOZIN: But it cannot be, Roku! The glory of the Fire Nation must always come first – for no matter how much I might wish to be just a man – I must always carry the burdens, the glory, the destiny of – The Fire Lord!

[FIREBENDING effects around the Firelord's throne – ribbons, etc. – and then abrupt CURTAIN DROP.]

[INTERMISSION.]

**

ACT 6

[EXPLODING VOLCANO rises from trapdoor in the middle of the stage! Two smoke machines! 

Enter ROKU, stage left, on the shoulders of the middle actor forming the BLUE DRAGON, and SOZIN, stage right, on the shoulders of the middle actor forming the RED DRAGON. At first they don't see each other through the smoke.]

SOZIN: Roku!

ROKU: Sozin!

[DRAGONS approach each other. SOZIN reaches out a hand in the fog; ROKU grasps it.]

SOZIN: Old friend!

ROKU: You came!

SOZIN: Did you think I'd let you fight a volcano alone? Besides -- Ta Min is down there!

[WIREWORK! Dragons FLY up to the rim of the volcano! LEAVE PLENTY OF TIME FOR APPLAUSE

Dragons set down SOZIN and ROKU on top of the volcano before returning to the ground. SOZIN and ROKU embrace.]

SOZIN: This is how it should have been, old friend. You and I, fighting for the glory of the Fire Nation, together –

ROKU: Alas, old friend – this is how it can never be again. 

[ROKU shoves SOZIN into the VOLCANO. SOZIN hangs on the edge.]

SOZIN: Roku …. why …...!

ROKU: I can't allow you to achieve your destiny, Sozin! The Air Nomads have shown me how it will be. If the Fire Nation conquers the world – as it surely will if you live – then your glory would eclipse even mine, as the Avatar. You won't need me anymore! And Ta Min – 

SOZIN: The woman we both love!

ROKU: Yes, the woman we both love – she would surely leave me for you! The truth is, Sozin – I set off the volcano with my Earthbending! It was the only way I could get you to come and be sure of defeating you!

SOZIN: Roku! You've not only betrayed me, you've betrayed your people! And I can't allow that – as the Fire Lord!

[More wirework! SOZIN rises into the air and releases the LIGHTNING STREAMERS from his feet! He lands next to Roku! They grapple! Wind effects! Lightning effects! USE EVERY EFFECT! Roku falls into the volcano! He clings onto the edge with one hand!] 

ROKU: This isn't the end, Sozin! I'll come for you …. in my next life …....

[VOLCANIC EXPLOSION! Smoke machines start up again! Five hundred red streamers from the volcano! ROKU FALLS.]

SOZIN: Rokuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

[CURTAIN]


	2. Contemporary review, 97 AG

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ember Island Players have a justifiable pride in their famous special effects, but – alas! – there comes a point of surfeit.

Well, nobody could accuse Pu-on Tim of resting on his laurels. The Ember Island Players seem bound and determined to outdo themselves with every play they put on, and The Great Fire Lord is certainly no exception. Taken on its own merits, The Great Fire Lord is a gripping emotional tale that brings one of our nation's greatest heroes to vivid life. Pu-on Tim has made the refreshing and controversial choice to present a more nuanced of Sozin in his script than we are often accustomed to seeing, showing not only the legendary Firelord's great achievements and extraordinary vision, but also his all-too-human moments of loneliness and doubt. Many actors might be intimidated by the challenge of portraying such an important historic figure, but Tae-woo Eom rises to the occasion, ably capturing Sozin's alternating moments of inspiring strength and emotional vulnerability. Meanwhile, newcomer Shiro Takeshi comes close to stealing the show as the sinister and charismatic Avatar Roku, and veteran actress Hina lends all her considerable charms to her few key scenes as love interest Ta Min. 

With all these genuine virtues to boast of, it's a real shame that the production seems determined to obscure them at every turn. The Ember Island Players have a justifiable pride in their famous special effects, but – alas! – there comes a point of surfeit, and as far as this reviewer is concerned, they easily passed it about three productions ago. Pu-on Tim does his cast no favors when he repeatedly obscures their solid stagecraft with ribbons, streamers and pyrotechnics. About the only five uninterrupted minutes of pure acting occur during the 'nightgown' scene in Act 4, presumably to allow the audience full opportunity to gape at Tae-woo's indisputably well-formed pectorals. This, too, is a real disservice to an actor who deserves better. 

Children will almost certainly delight in the wirework and pyrotechnics that accompany the exploding volcano of the play's climax, but an adult viewer might prefer a less overstimulating atmosphere in which to absorb the impact of Roku's embrace and betrayal – a more genuinely explosive moment, for both the emotional narrative of the play and the history of this nation, than any mere volcano.


	3. Review of the revival, 180 AG

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Da Ren's production of _The Great Fire Lord_ certainly does not shy away from embarrassment.

How soon is too soon to laugh about a painful past? 

That's only one of the questions raised by the controversial revival of Fire Nation Empire play _The Great Fire Lord_ in Republic City this summer. Although it was admired in its day, _The Great Fire Lord_ has lapsed into obscurity since its initial run – a reminder of a history that most contemporary Fire Nation citizens would just as soon forget. 

Director Da Ren takes a different attitude. “I don't think we should forget about the past just because it's personally embarrassing,” she writes, in her program notes for the production. “I think we should confront it – especially the parts that are embarrassing.” 

Da Ren's production of _The Great Fire Lord_ certainly does not shy away from embarrassment. The cast play up the propagandist dialogue to the point of absurdity, doing everything but winking at the audience any time Pu-on Tim's script takes a turn for the particularly outrageous. Physical comedy abounds. Tamaki's Sozin gets a great deal of mileage out of the six-inch shoulderblades sticking out of his armor. Xun Wei Tang, as Ta Min, is prone to fainting on anything and everything in sight, then using this an excuse to remain behind and make faces in subsequent scenes where her character does not appear in the script. Meanwhile, the role of Gyatsu – as written, a offensive walking (or flying) stereotype of a childish and cowardly Airbender – is played by a giant carrot spirit. The carrot spirit certainly seems to be enjoying itself, but the symbolism of this choice remains opaque. 

Da Ren's revisionist take on the play also extends to the central relationship between Firelord Sozin and Avatar Roku. Sozin and Jin-Su Kim's Roku insert longing pauses and impassioned glances into every gap in the text they can find, with the resulting implication that the entire first Fire Nation War could have been prevented if the two most prominent figures in it had gotten over themselves and gotten into bed. Given the publicity around the current Avatar's recent marriage to her long-term partner Asami Sato, it's easy to understand the temptation to draw in contemporary audiences by hinting at a parallel Avatar romance– but, as _The Great Fire Lord_ itself tells us, some temptations are, perhaps, better resisted. 

Despite its overall tone of ridicule, the production allow itself a few powerful moments. Most notable is the staging of the finale, which, in the original script, sets an extremely revisionist version of Sozin and Roku's final battle against an exploding volcano. Da Ren first has her cast play the scene straight, including all the classic explosive effects (state of the art in the Empire era, now obviously dated) specified by the script. At the point of Roku's fall into the volcano, the effects abruptly cease, and the house lights dim. The stage is quiet as Roku climbs back out of the volcano and the scene replays itself, silently and without effects – and, this time, in accordance with the version of history that we recognize as true today. When Roku falls again, the effects return; against a background of too-bright color, Sozin turns and shouts his final line to the audience, as if desperately pleading with them to believe his story. 

It's a genuinely sad scene – made all the moreso by the fact that it provides such a fleeting glimpse of the production that _The Great Fire Lord_ might have been, if Da Ren had been less devoted to irony, and more invested in her stated project of confronting and exploring the past.


End file.
